I'm writing this on the plane home from Florida. S, J, and I had a lovely visit with my folks. We took J to Disney World for the first time. Ugh, what a mess. It took an hour to get from the car to the entrance of Magic Kingdom. That is assinine. I despise huge crowds and this was one enormous crowd. I'd like to say it was all worth it to see Julian having a great time, but to be honest, it was a bit much for him too.

We rode on two rides (teacups and racecars). While he loved the rides, he was so anxious and upset about the lines and waiting and the fact that the rides didn't last nearly as long as the waits. It was very frustrating for him. It's hard to be three, you know? Anyway, we'd planned on half a day there, figuring we might stretch it to a full day if J wanted to, but after lunch, we asked him what he'd like to do next and he said he wanted to go home. We even offered another ride on the racecars, but he was determined to go home.

I think he had the most fun on the monorail from the Magic Kingdom entrance back to the "ticketing and transportation area" than anywhere else. Definitely an expensive half a day, also. I'm not entirely convinced that it's worth the money for Magic Kingdom, but I'm willing to try going back when J gets a little older. I think we would have been better off going to Seaworld. I think he might have gotten more out of that. Ah well. At least my father paid for the Disney tickets.

Wow. I had no idea that Magic Kingdom was that crowded. I have never been -- Mom didn't want to drive that far with kids in the car and was afraid to fly, so we never went. I've always wanted to go, but I dunno if that would be all that much fun.

I recommend going in the winter when it isn't a federal holiday. My father said he's never seen the place quite so crowded, but he's only been there in the winter in the middle of the week (on a non-holiday). It would have been too hard for us to arrange a mid-week, non-holiday visit this time and I figured President's day wasn't a huge travel holiday. I was, apparently, incorrect. I can see how it could have been fun. It's just that it was far too crowded for my tastes.

We arrived in the parking lot at 9:15, entered the main entrance to Magic Kingdom after 10:15. Went directly to the Teacups and stood in line. We got on the Teacup Ride at 11am. We walked directly from there to the racecar ride (next ride over, very short walk) and stood in line for a long time. We got on the race car ride at noon. Then we had lunch and Julian was done for.

I've never been when it has been really crowded. Somehow our trips managed to happen when it was off-season. October used to be a great month to go, now it is a big honeymoon trip and many couples get married in October so I have heard it is more crowded than it used to be but still not over-crowded.

It can be overwhelming to a young child with all the crowds, pushing, and waits.

This just happened to be the time I could squeeze in a quick trip to my father without messing up work schedules or Jewish holiday schedules or general life issues. It didn't entirely occur to me that we'd be there on a holiday, and even the part of me that did realize that didn't figure it would be that hot a weekend to go!

J still enjoyed himself, but I think he'll get more out of it when he's a teeney bit older.

My niece toured with Disney on Ice several years back (as a costumer). I even went to one of the shows when it came through the area (because she gave me free tickets). Apparently, at the next show after the one I attended, Snow White had a wardrobe malfunction.

I don't know if they still have it, but I remember running around on some island (Tom Sawyer's? Huck Finn's? Some pirate's? Not sure.), and my mom loved that, because we could run around as long as we wanted rather than waiting in line for a gazillion years for a ride that was five seconds long (approximately :-).

That said, yeah, going some non-school-vacation week is likely to be a whole lot better with the lines.

They don't have that anymore, but there are other places in DisneyWorld where kids can be set loose to run around – among them are the Boneyard in Dinoland USA (at Disney's Animal Kingdom), the Honey I Shrunk The Kids Movie Set Adventure (at Disney-MGM Studios), and both Winnie the Pooh's house and part of Toontown (at Disney's Magic Kingdom). I don't recall anywhere like that at EPCOT off the top of my head, though.

We accidentally went to Disney World over President's Day weekend, I can tell you it's the worst time ever to go. It's the same weekend as the Daytona 500, and the place is much more packed than usual.